CRÈME DE LA CRÈME: Top 6 Best Performing Players in 2017/18 season in Europe FIVE Best Leagues- Latest

2017/18 Europe best performing players list has been revealed. CIES Football Observatory report analyzed soccer stars with at least 1,800 minutes in Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1. Bundesliga representatives needed a minimum of 1, 440 minutes on the pitch to be included. The top six will shock many football fans because it is not what they expect to see. Take a look at what the research firm has found out. We sample the best six.

6. Mohamed Salah – 90.45 Rating

A post shared by Mohamed Salah (@mosalah) on May 13, 2018 at 11:23am PDT

PFA and Premier League player of the year Mohamed Salah is surprisingly joint sixth on the list. The Egyptian collected all awards available for a senior outfield player this season. The 25-year-old also scored 32 goals to lift the Golden Boot. In all competitions, he netted 44 goals but he only gets a rating of 90.45 alongside Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho.

Manchester City won the Premier League with a record 100 points. Pep Guardiola side also conceded only 27 goals all season which also a special record. This shows that the defenders were doing their job at the back. Nicolas Otamendi, in particular, had a great season. In fact, the Argentine centre-back recorded the second highest passes in 2017/18 season with 3,074. This perhaps explains why CIES Football Observatory gave him a rating of 90.47. This means he is the highest raked defender in Europe.

4. Sergio Aguero- 90.48 Rating

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero did not end the season the way he could’ve liked because he is recovering from a knee injury. The Argentine played only 1,969 minutes last season but still scored 21 goals, and 6 assists. This is a great return given that top scorer Mohamed Salah played for 2,921 minutes scoring 32 goals and 10 assists. This might be one of the reasons why CIES Football Observatory decided to give him a rating of 90.48.

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